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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Hakgwai- The musician who crossover between the east and the west

The music style in Hong Kong is narrow, my foreign friend (who doesn't know my language) told me every song sounds the same in Hong Kong. From my point of view, it is true because most of the Hong Kong music adopted the same formula and recipe, therefore everything sounds identical. Hong Kong music has western influence, but only on the surface, they only adopt their instrument and technology and they always neglect the Chinese music instrument. They believe the Chinese music instrument is old school and only for the elder people.

Last week I saw street musician Hakgwai and he caught my attention. He had tons of classic Chinese music instruments with western amplifier, iPad and synthesizers. What he did was creating effects from the Chinese music instruments and merge them with the progressive and fast westernize's beat. The result was pretty damn good and drew quite a huge crowd with people from ALL kinds of generations (I didn't took photo for the crowd because I want to concentrate more on his performance and showcase his talent).

His performance told me music is without borders and limitations. Chinese classical merges with modern music can explore a lot of new opportunities to Hong Kong music especially when I saw the elder people and the teenage enjoyed Hakgwai's shows together. It say a lot about the people in Hong Kong can afford something more innovative and progressive, rather than keep repeating the old and boring winning formula. Also, the Chinese music instrument is a part of our history and culture, if we use it well I really believe they can create our own music identity. One of the Hong Kong uniqueness is the mixed culture, like what Hakgwai did by mixing the music style can really show the special of Hong Kong.

Please show him some love

So glad that I met a new friend! Big thx for your performance, it was truly fantastic.